Wednesday, July 3, 2013

A scientist has claimed that advances in cell engineering have paved way for a full human head transplant in the future-even today.

In a paper published recently, Dr Sergio Canavero, of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group in Italy, said that these advancements mean that surgeons will now theoretically be able to fuse a human spinal cord just like it happened in Mary Shelley`s classic story `Frankenstein,`"This is no longer science fiction. This could be done today — now," he said, according to The Telegraph. "If this operation is done it will provide a few people with a substantial amount of extra life. The only reason I have not gone further is funding."

"In 1970, Robert White and his colleagues successfully transplanted the head of a rhesus monkey on the body of another one, whose head had simultaneously been removed. The monkey lived 8 days and was, by all measures, normal, having suffered no complications," Canavero writes. "However, the technology did not exist for reconnecting the spinal cord, and this line of research was no longer pursued."But, he adds, "It is my contention that the technology only now exists for such linkage."

However, Canavero believes that he will be able to do this thanks to chemicals called `membrane fusogens` or sealants, some of which are already used for making medicines.

He claimed in the paper that the greatest technical obstacle to endeavor like these is reconnecting donor`s and recipient`s spinal cords, adding that he believes that the technology now exists for such sort of linkages.